Signs Around Town
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Aphids (and limitations)
Even though we had real, hard frosts this winter, there are already aphids on my roses. I went out this morning and picked the aphids off of the new buds — yes, my roses are budding. It was too cold to stay out long, but I did a little weeding and planted a couple of pots of pansies.
I was thinking about how I garden in my tiny space — using my fingers to take the aphids off of each rose bud, pulling up individual weeds between new plants in containers, choosing to let some volunteers come up between bricks because it expands my planting area. How different it would be if I even had a small yard by suburban standards. It would not be possible to attend to all the detail that I see, unless I were to spend every waking hour in the garden. If I had an acre, it would take three full-time gardeners to attend without tools and sprays the small things I touch by hand.
It seems we make our world as big or as small as we want it. My tiny garden is as much a universe for me as a gardener as would be an acre garden — though of course I cannot grow sprawling things like melons and potatoes and fruit trees.
But the fullness of how much I see and experience, how much calls out for love and attention, how much I am enriched by tending and observing what is there, is not diminished by what I do not have. Rather, I am called to expand to the greatest what I have within my limits. This is true, too, in our yoga and meditation practice, and our lives. We can choose to live expansively no matter what our limits or we can choose to feel bound and diminished by our limits. The garden, this morning, helped me remind myself of that choice. It helped me turn towards possibilities for growth instead of towards constriction.
Statuary Around Town
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Letter from FCNL on How You Can Help Shape the Budget
I just received this letter and wanted to pass it on to those who have senators and members of Congress (those of us in DC still do not):
Dear Elizabeth Goodman,One of our lobbyists just reported to me that some members of the supercommittee are telling us they are open to cutting Pentagon spending. “We need to hear what the folks back home in our state have to say about this,” we heard.The most important voice in this budget debate is your voices as constituents. As they make their decision, your members of Congress need to hear your side of this story. They need to hear about the consequences in your communities when money isn’t invested in schools, roads, jobs, and other local priorities.Today, will you write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper? Refer to your members of Congress by name and point out the needs in your local community.Communities around the country are being squeezed. More people are relying on food banks; local governments are copying with both the neighborhood and family stress of foreclosure; schools are increasing class sizes and shortening the school year; and critical maintenance on bridges and roadways. Police and firefighters are losing their jobs. Yet, the Pentagon budget continues to grow.Congress will take action to reduce the deficit, which means budget cuts. But if Congress doesn’t act to cut at Pentagon spending by a significant amount — FCNL and others believe that number is $1 trillion over the next ten years — then the cuts to other programs will be much deeper. Cutting the Pentagon budget and potentially making more funds available to meet the needs of state and local communities. There is an opportunity to make this change.Thank you for your action.Sincerely,Diane RandallExecutive Secretary P.S. If you want to know more about how much Pentagon spending is slated to rise, or more on FCNL’s views on the debt, deficit and supercommittee, visit our website.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Quote of the Day (and Musings on a Terrible Work Week)
“‘I don’t know what you mean by your way,’ said the Queen: “all the ways about here belong to me… ‘Curtsey while you’re thinking what to say. It saves time.'” Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
It’s been one of those weeks when I realized that whatever this lesson is that I am supposed to learn, I don’t seem to have learned it very well yet. Best thing I know when having such realizations is to pause, to go for a walk, to eat well, to clean, to draw on the wisdom and affection of friends, to pet the cat, to go out into the garden, to meditate (not necessarily in that order). To be open to changing and growing–painful as it may seem.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
